


Malpractice

by herbailiwick



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Character Death Fix, Children of Earth Compliant, Episode: s01e10 The Doctor Dances, Gen, Hopeful Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-09
Updated: 2012-10-09
Packaged: 2017-11-15 23:04:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herbailiwick/pseuds/herbailiwick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack thinks he can bring Toshiko back to life. The Doctor helps him do that and more.</p><p>Jack/Ianto. Takes place after <i>Children of Earth</i>. This Doctor is not the Eleventh Doctor; he is at least the Twelfth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Malpractice

The thought only occurs to him after he's gotten a few drinks into him. It's one of those quiet nights, a night that if Ianto had bothered him on before, he'd have humored him for a while then broken down when he left, knowing his guilt and sorrow were as much a part of the reason he hadn't fallen into madness yet as they were the reason for madness in the first place.

Ianto's not around now, though. Ianto had a lasting impact on how Jack does business at Torchwood. In the not-quite two years he worked for Jack, he'd changed the way Jack saw the Hub. Jack didn't truly see it as a home until then. But with good coffee and a quiet smile Jack trusted no matter what, Ianto had helped him open up in a way no one else could have, except the Doctor with his first face, with those mismatched ears and the trust Jack didn't want to misplace.

He'd actually thought he might marry Ianto someday. Secretly, in thoughts he'd never shared with anyone.

He finds inspiration during a traditional Smith Smith Harkness & Jones swapping-of-the-stories, which are randomly-scheduled get-togethers where the four ex-companions tell stories about the Doctor. It's all very secret; the Doctor doesn't belong to anyone else, not anyone they're in contact with anyway. 

One particular night, Jack tells the story of where it all began for him, the story of the boy who lost his mummy. He'll always remember the nanogenes. Their healing powers, the powers he shared with Rose, remind him of the power she shared right back by bringing him back to life. Poor Rose hadn't known what she was doing, and neither had he when he'd caused an epidemic of confused, masked children, when he'd been mortal and stupid and hadn't thought ahead. He'll bet that Rose does a lot more thinking now too, in her parallel universe. 

He misses Rose like he misses the Doctor, even a little more. Because the Doctor's still out there, he's just not Jack's Doctor anymore, and he's made that clear. But Rose is probably still his Rose. He'll just never have a chance to dance on top of Big Ben with her, to see the trust in her, the faith in him she had. It took that faith in him to turn him from wanting to be embarrassed about his mistake and cover it up like a little boy who was already so full of grief to wanting to own up to his mistake and take it like a man.

But the wise Doctor and the woman who showed mercy to a Dalek showed up and saved him. He'd been about to die, and then he'd been allowed to pay for his crimes in dance instead, and in loyalty.

The nanogenes will never leave his memory, and he can't help but think about the way that Nancy had been able to change them into a substance that gave life, true, pure life, with a soul.

***

As it turns out, the site of the bombing is now a place where people go to get miraculously healed. It's not a well known spot, but Jack's done heavy research. He's scared to go just yet, but he keeps thinking, and he keeps making blueprints. And then, he calls up Gwen. 

"I've got this idea," he says, and she listens with bated breath because she can hear the sob hidden behind his voice, and she must have turned it to speaker without him realizing because suddenly there's Rhys and he asks if it isn't a bit...wrong?

"Wrong would be not doing anything, when I know this will work," Jack says, and inside of him is that child desperate to find Grey and also the angry man who wants to die but can't, and he hears Gwen.

"Rhys, we might as well try it. Even though Owen's body couldn't heal when he came back, he still enjoyed being back on the team, so Tosh might be the same. But this, this'll be even better, won't it?"

"It should be, yeah," Jack says, and the tears fall, and he hangs up.

***

He takes Mickey with him because Mickey didn't know Tosh and Sarah Jane is busy. Mickey holds out his hand, and Jack cuts it cleanly. Jack heals too fast for the genes to want anything to do with him anymore; they're just another set of old friends who don't even realize he still exists. 

"I wish this could be you," Mickey says as he bleeds and the genes come over slowly and get a reading on the wound, as they start their magic, and as Jack tries to suck them into the canister he's tried to magnetize in the right way.

The canister doesn't quite work, and they start to come back out. He'll make it more powerful and try it again; he's got to. He looks at Mickey. "Yeah? Is that some sort of cheap shot?"

Mickey looks confused. "No. Sorry, no," he says, eyeing his perfectly healed cut. "I just meant...well." He pauses. "See, you get this look on your face when you wish you weren't Magic Jack anymore. I know you can still bleed, yeah, but it means more when you're not already like a nanogene factory, doesn't it? So, it's not that I wish you could bleed; that's sick. But I wish you felt more normal a lot of the time. I don't like when you push people away just cause you aren't normal."

Mickey and Jack look around at the surrounding area for a while in silence. "I think I let my big mouth get away with me; just ignore me," Mickey says.

"I can't," Jack says. "I can't ignore that you're the only man good enough for Martha Jones," he says with a grin full of amusement and sadness, and Mickey quietly smiles back.

Mickey reaches out, puts his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Let's go up with the magnetization on that thingy, alright? We've gotta bag us some nanogenes."

Jack's answering grin holds much less sadness, though he has to wonder if maybe he shouldn't even bring her back. But he remembers the footage of Tosh's heart breaking as Owen died so far away. Death is a prison, and she's been imprisoned too much already. He knows Owen is beyond his power to save without a body, but she's got a body, and it's in the Hub, waiting.

He remembers...he remembers the other one they lost, the other body in the Hub, and he tries to glance over the memories, despite his promise, because he's not even sure if it'd be right to bring him back, seeing as the death hadn't been his fault. He doesn't owe the world anything for Ianto's death, which still stings and feels wrong, but he's resisted worse temptation in his lifetime. He's been stronger about bigger things. 

Still, though, he aches, and it's like a penance.

***

The next few cuts do the trick, and soon the canister and two more like it are brimming with nanogenes, and Jack claps Mickey on the back in praise and says, "Well done, Mickey Smith."

And Mickey says, "This is just the sort of daft thing Rose would do."

And Jack says, "You and Martha are too wise for us, Mickey," and he means it. "But when we dream, we dream big."

"Me and Martha'd be nowhere without big dreamers," Mickey admits.

***

Martha calls the Doctor's phone. He looks different now. He has less compunctions about time travelling for selfish reasons now. He greets Jack warmly, gives him a big hug, and there's something off about it but it still feels really good, so Jack allows himself to melt into it for a moment.

"Doctor?" Martha asks. And he grins and breaks away from Jack, and he runs to her and hugs her too and says, "Martha Jones! Sorry I'm not as pretty now. Did you know I was at your wedding? I hid. Your color choices were terrible."

And Martha grips him and starts to cry, and she says sheepishly, "Well, we thought of the color scheme as a secret revenge against my family." And she sniffs. "You know, you never treated me very well, Doctor."

The Doctor pauses. He holds her for a while, then nods. "No," he says. "I really didn't. Not you, not Jack, not your husband." 

Jack doesn't mind this Doctor. He doesn't think he'll ever fall for the Doctor again, not after the way he'd been treated when he'd been insecure about his inability to die, something completely out of his control, when he'd been dying (or, not dying) to see if the Doctor would help, but he'd received a cold Time Lord shoulder in return. This incarnation is nicer, and he can look up to him again. He hopes the prejudice won't reappear, but the fear that it might is like his own personal dark cloud. 

Part of his attraction to the Doctor had been the fact someone else didn't seem to be able to die. It's nice to at least have made so many friends because of his extended lifespan, and he finds his memory for the people he loves has somehow expanded as well, but the scale of his life still makes him feel lonely, and he knows the Doctor is even lonelier.

The Doctor will always be important, but there are more important people to Jack now, even if the Doctor is still one hell of an inspiration.

They travel in time, just Jack and the Doctor, and they find Toshiko's mother before she dies. Jack tells her Tosh needs her help, which is true. They don't tell her what with.

Soon enough, Jack and Gwen and Martha and Mrs. Toshiko crowd into the examination room.

Jack says, "I've saved your daughter from prison, and she's had a wonderful life here working for me. She's a genius, a good employee, and a good friend, but I've got some bad news." He gauges her reaction. "She's dead now, Mrs. Toshiko," he says carefully, "and you're the only one who can bring her back. That's why I've brought you here. You can give her even more of a future."

He watches her go through shock. He watches her despair about it. Then, finally, he sees resolve he recognizes from knowing Tosh, because this is the mother who gave it to her.

They take Tosh out of the wall and reveal her, and Tosh's mother stands shaky but strong and so inspiring to him, so heroic. And he releases his old friends who couldn't care for his wounds even if they wanted to because he's too quick for them. These are upgraded genes, the Doctor's own creation, and as Jack releases them like a thousand lightning bugs, like giant glittering sequins in the air, he directs them to fly toward Tosh, and they _listen_ because, like the Doctor had been, he is now a superior being. 

They concentrate on her stomach. Martha, checking her vital signs with the computer, informs them she's breathing now, that blood is pumping, that she's starting to work again.

And Mrs. Toshiko is sobbing in gratefulness and terror, and Jack tells her, "Touch them, touch them and you'll save her," nodding to the bright little nanogenes, and she offers her hand so shakily, so disbelieving but with just a hint of hope, and she makes contact and they read her. They understand. They were once touched and directed by the Doctor. They remember reading Nancy. They remember bringing Jamie back to life.

Tosh sits up and stares at her mother and Mrs. Toshiko screams and faints and Jack catches her because he's not allowed to not be suave, and Tosh stares at the nanogenes and Jack pulls them back into the magnetic canister, their job done.

***

"I really didn't care for either of you, and that's wrong, that's so, so wrong," the Doctor says seriously, having gathered Mickey, Martha, and Jack into the TARDIS. "Toshiko's mother staying here, that's done in the name of you, Mickey. I once let you stay with your grandmother in a parallel world because she needed you. Toshiko needs her mother now too. Trust me on that," he says with a haunted expression.

Mickey actually looks touched, and he nods. "Thank you, Doctor," he says.

"And for Martha," the Doctor continues, "Well...I've got a surprise."

The Doctor silently leads them into a chamber of the TARDIS whose sole occupants are a cot and an unconscious Owen Harper.

"Owen!" Martha gasps.

Jack stares at the Doctor in confusion.

"This one's not entirely selfless," he admits. "But I'm dedicating this to you because, well, he died saving your life, right? You've saved mine more times than I can remember, Martha Jones. This isn't breaking any laws of time, because you two, Jack and Martha, you already broke the law with this one by bringing him back." They all look at Owen's sleeping form for a moment.

"You brought him back to life and didn't tell me?" Mickey jokes, but he looks a little hurt.

"It was classified," says Martha, "plus, I didn't want you to think I'd done...wrong," she says, slightly embarrassed. Wrong like the Doctor obviously thought.

"I need your help, you three," the Doctor says. "I need you to see what you can do to keep him from being wrong." He looks at them in turn. "He shouldn't be here. Not just _here_ here, but in this realm. So, don't let me regret this. Bring him back to what he was before you got the job half done."

"I'll make him easy on the eyes, Doctor," Jack says. He's desperate to prove himself, even still.

They're silent as they watch Owen, and then Mickey says, "What about Jack, though? What've you got for him, then?"

Jack turns away. "Doctor, we both know what I want," he says desperately. "But, the nanogenes...I'm not trying to play God; it's all about trying to right a wrong. It's my fault they died. It's not my fault Ianto died, though. And his death was supposed to happen. I've got to believe that."

"No, you're right," the Doctor says quickly. "I'm getting carried away. What makes your people so special, right, when there's a whole world out there? Though...you can use the nanogenes for anyone you specifically want to bring back. You can keep them, Jack, just be smart about it. Or else I'll take them."

"You can have them."

"Then what will I give you, Jack?" the Doctor says with worry.

Jack doesn't know what to say. He's already explained he shouldn't have what he wants, and if he has to say it again, he's going to cry.

The Doctor leaves.

***

Things go differently with Owen's mother than they had with Mrs. Toshiko. Finding his mother isn't easy, and when they do find her, when they tell her Owen needs her help, she says Owen's not her problem anymore.

Even still, Jack can sense some kind of vague, tiny regret in her, somewhere, buried, and he's also not giving her the option of saying no, so he knocks her out and takes her to the Hub and they get Owen out and Jack lets Tosh open the canister, the same one that saved her. 

Owen could be awake for this, but they figure the reunion with his mum could come on better terms, and if he's unconscious and appears dead, it's easier to explain his lack of vital signs.

Tosh is fine, by the way. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her so far, and it's been three days, but she begs Jack not to wait any longer if there's a real chance Owen could be back and whole like she is.

They revive Ms. Harper and she shrinks back from the examining table in horror. "You're a sick man," she says to Jack, even as the little space age fireflies zoom around and start to patch Owen together. Martha cuts off Owen's bandage and starts to remove his stitches as the nanogenes do what they were made to do.

"Yeah," Jack admits. "I kind of am."

"You bring me here to see my dead son. What, am I supposed to react or something? Who the hell do you think you are, terrifying people like this?" she demands.

Jack looks at her and smiles his most dangerous smile very slowly. "He won't be dead anymore if you put your hand on those little spots of light. You have the power to save him now, like you tried to save him when he was 16."

"You're mad!" she says, looking around at everyone. The machine is reading Owen's vital signs, and Tosh is covering her mouth and crying as she watches the screen, and Gwen shakes her head at the claim that they're all mad.

"No," Gwen says. "No, he's telling the truth. We can bring them to you, but we thought you'd like the opportunity to be the one who makes the choice. We want it to be your choice, so you can know you did right by your son, that you gave him life."

"Who do you think you are?! Why are you speaking to me this way?" Ms. Harper demands.

"We're his friends," Tosh says through tears. "We're his friends, and he's our medic. He died saving us, and we just want him back. Please."

"And also," Gwen says, "I'm a mother."

"And I'm a father with a lot of regret," Jack says.

In the end, Ms. Harper seems to mainly step forward and offer her hand to the nanogenes out of a desire to shut everyone up. Jack kind of likes her.

***

Jack observes Owen for a long time after he's revived. He's not only not-dissolved, but he's eating again, he's breathing again, and he doesn't waste any time in beginning to hang out with Tosh, perhaps feeling one more connection between them now, being completely revived and all.

"You know, you two are kind of sweet together," Jack comments. He thinks Owen's finally at a place where he can realize that Tosh isn't going to break his heart, and that he does have feelings for her, strong ones he'd tried to push down and deny a lifetime ago.

"We found each other in the darkness," Tosh explains. "You don't remember this, Owen; it's a different Owen that I spent time with. But it did happen." Owen turns to look at her, transfixed by the words. "We found each other in the darkness, Owen," she says, then turns to Jack. "And you know what happened when we did?" She smiles. "The lights turned on."

Jack's eyes widen. He thinks she might be kidding for a moment, but it's Tosh. She goes on to describe the things she saw in the afterlife, she giggles, she reaches out and lightly punches Owen on the arm for something the other Owen did, and Owen laughs and stares at her like she's actually amazing.

Jack starts to think about how happy Ianto must be with Lisa. Lisa deserves Ianto more than he does, he knows. Unless Ianto's changed too much since Lisa, had too many hard experiences only Jack would understand? But Lisa understands a lot too, having always been a part of Torchwood 1 alongside Ianto, so Jack doesn't know what to think. He's glad to think that Ianto's not stuck in an empty, black world, but he misses him in ways he'd never even imagined he would, in ways he hasn't missed most people. It still feels so fresh and new, and...bad.

"Tosh," Gwen asks, "how do you feel about death now? Do you miss it?"

"Well, in some ways," Tosh admits. "But mainly I'm just not afraid of dying anymore. After my imprisonment, I always looked at my life as if I'd been blessed with a gift of extra time, but especially so now. I think I can do wonderful things here. And we were with my mum, the other Owen and I, but now she's here, or this version of her is anyway. So, I love the memories I have from being dead with them, but I'm going to make new memories now."

"So you're glad we brought you back?" Gwen asks, looking pointedly at Jack as she asks Tosh this.

Jack looks away.

"Yes, Gwen," Tosh says with satisfaction. "I'm glad."

***

He can't remember the last time he was so angry at Gwen, and he's never been this angry at Martha or Tosh. He can remember the last time he was this angry at Owen, though. The four of them have gone against his better wishes to fulfill his more secret, selfish ones, and now Ianto is standing right in front of him, alive.

"The Doctor didn't want to be in here right now, in case you weren't happy with him," Martha informs. "It was mostly him. We can't direct the genes. We managed to get Ianto's father here and back, and they even caught up a bit. The Doctor said it all went according to plan."

"We did this for you, Jack," Gwen says gently. "And for Ianto, and for Tosh, and Owen, and me, because there was nothing wrong with this team. We'd like another chance, yeah?" She pauses. "Say something?"

"Oh, Gwen, dear Gwen Cooper," Jack says in a dangerous tone, "you don't want me to say anything right now."

"Mm. No. Probably not," Owen agrees. "Does...anyone want a coffee?" he offers after a moment.

Ianto is looking at Jack's angry expression with one of sadness. He looks down at the ground. He looks guilty, embarrassed, unwanted.

Jack is still so angry, but the anger fades as he watches Ianto squirm under his scrutiny. "Come with me," Jack says, leading Ianto to his office.

He gestures for Ianto to sit. "You know, I told them not to. I told them to leave it be. You found Lisa, didn't you?"

Ianto looks up, tears streaming down his face, face scrunched in confusion. "How did you know about that?" he asks roughly.

"Lucky guess," Jack says. "But I guess there's nothing we can do about it now."

"We weren't back together, if you're worried," Ianto clarifies, still looking a bit confused. "See, she met her dead mate Henry before I came back, and they really hit it off." 

Jack blinks. "I see," he says. He goes over to his desk to locate a folded blue handkerchief. "Here," he says, offering it to Ianto. "You look like you could use it."

Ianto grins through his tears, dabbing at his eyes. "Jack, it's alright, you know. It's alright if you don't want me," he says sadly. "I mean, I don't think I can understand why, but I'll respect it."

Jack steps closer, kneeling down by the chair, looking up at Ianto. "Is that really what you think?" He reaches up, brushing away the trail of a tear. He's slightly indignant. "I didn't want to take you from Lisa. I didn't want to bring you back into a world of _Torchwood_ and pain if you were happier. I didn't want to mess with the rules of the universe and play God just because I would have liked you to not be dead. Because you were dead. I try not to play that 'what if' game; you know that. But don't you ever think that means that I don't want you."

Ianto sobs into the square of blue cloth. He reaches out with his other hand and pulls Jack close, shaking his head. "I love you, Jack," he says honestly. "Really and truly."

Jack glances up at him and imagines getting on one knee someday to ask a very important question.

It's actually a possibility now, isn't it? 

***

The Doctor is waiting outside the tourist entrance to the Hub, his hands in his pockets, whistling a tune even Jack's never heard of. 

"I suppose I should thank you," Jack says to the Doctor. "Once again, making the decisions for everyone else."

"You like it. It gives you a break from doing the same," teases the Doctor slowly, but his smile soon fades. "I'm sorry," he says quickly. "I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack shrugs coolly and waits for the Doctor to look like he's going to listen. "I have to ask: Do I still get my request?"

"Well, depending on what it is, yeah," the Doctor allows.

***

The Doctor likes Ianto. Or at the very least, he seems to. He's always nice to him, and he praises him a few times, and Jack has the odd thought that the Doctor is trying to make Ianto look good to Jack, which is funny because he's always looked good to Jack. Probably just another way to deal with Jack's strange feelings for him, as he sees it. 

But Jack's over the Doctor.

What Jack doesn't notice during their trips to planets and times that thrill Ianto is that the way the Doctor looks at Ianto sometimes echoes the way he looks at Jack. What Jack doesn't know yet is that the Doctor did more than just bring Ianto back to life.

He won't find out until the Doctor's dropped both of them off a final time, until a mission goes very wrong and Ianto's dying again and Jack's clutching him and begging all over again, pleading with the world for him to not have to see Ianto die again so soon as Ianto goes cold, goes still, and the light leaves his eyes.

***

The Doctor did something, Jack doesn't know what, because then, with a gasp, Ianto's eyes open again, he breathes again, and the light in his eyes isn't the only light.

Ianto's skin glows all over in a way that makes Jack sure for just a moment that he's holding an actual angel, and then the glow dissipates and Ianto looks around, face scrunched in confusion, and Jack lies down on top of him, and he closes his eyes tightly, and he wills himself to wake up because there's no way this nightmare can be real.

Eventually, as Ianto squirms under him and tries to get him to get off, Jack does his best to accept the reality laid out in front of him. "You were dead," he says calmly, though inside he's anything but calm. "You were dead, Ianto. But I think you're...I don't think you can...."

Ianto reaches up to card his fingers through Jack's hair, ill-caring of the danger just out of sight. "Did you do CPR?"

Jack stares at him, mouth slightly open, rage and sorrow warring in his gaze.

"Did I say something?" asks Ianto.

"I didn't know my Doctor would screw you over this way," Jack says. "But I should have kind of expected."

"I'm like you now, then?" Ianto says cautiously. "Did he do this for you before?" He continues to pet Jack's hair, and he presses a kiss to Jack's temple. "I'd be upset, I would, but I'm too glad at the moment."

Jack says roughly, "Ianto, listen to me. You can't die. I'm pretty sure you can't die. He already said he couldn't fix me, but why would he...?" His voice broke on the word. 

"That's alright, though," Ianto says excitedly. "Think, Jack. It's alright. Because I worried about you being alone for all eternity. Now I'll never have to worry again."

"Ianto," Jack sobs. He doesn't want this for anyone, much less poor Ianto. Ianto is so pure, so innocent.

"You can cry all you want," Ianto says with determination fueled in part by nerves. Jack knows the tone all too well. "I'm gonna be glad, though. I'm not going anywhere, Jack...unless you ever want me to. Maybe it's right, that you can have someone who'll always be around for you to come home to. Maybe you deserve it." He continues to stroke Jack's hair, even when they hear the alien nearing. They've got all the time in the world and then some, haven't they? 

Jack sobs again, the sound vicious and desperate. "Ianto," he says, cradling the man who used to belong in the world, who never will again. He's never let himself hate the Doctor before, but he hates him now.

Jack loves Ianto, and he feels right in his arms, even now, even now that Jack knows that Ianto's life is over and that the hellishness of not being able to die has begun. He tugs Ianto close and decides he'll quit thinking about the 'what if's if Ianto can just try and keep his innocence. 

Ianto says, "This is a good thing, though, Jack. You'll see," and Jack doubts if he ever will. But if anyone could make him see, it's Ianto.


End file.
